Oregon fired its head coach Mark Helfrich this week, after the team finished 4-8 on the season, its worst record since 1991. After a string of eight straight years of 11 wins or more, the Ducks managed just 9 wins last year, and then the full collapse this year.

Helfrich was clearly not the right man for the job, but with the team already being leapfrogged by not only Washington, but Washington State and Oregon State, it faces a long road back to relevancy.

And the factors that made the program so unique may be slipping away.

Oregon's rise to national prominence had a lot to do with the people brought in, the philosophy created by coaches Chip Kelly and Mike Bellotti. But it's undeniable (and frankly a bit cliche) that Nike had a whole lot to do with the rise of the Oregon program. The shoe and apparel company gave Oregon an identity, a swagger, a brand.

While other schools still wore those same jerseys they'd been wearing forever, the Ducks came out in garish neon, clashing color combinations, metallic silver, matte black. They looked cool, and for an 18-year-old kid trying to choose between a few schools that were all great programs and great universities, that cool factor helped.

Now? Just about every team in the country (not named Alabama and Penn State) is doing what the Ducks were doing a decade ago. Every team has a brand. Color combinations and jerseys change every week. There's a locker room arms race, as every school tries to outdo the next with state-of-the-art equipment, video games, food options, TVs, hot tubs, you name it.

What made Oregon different, what made it special, all that is gone. They can't rely on the cool uniforms and the brand any longer, as every team has cool uniforms and a brand. (If I'm 18 and don't care about history, what's to separate Oregon and Maryland right now?)

Oregon doesn't have that edge, so they're going to have to get back to doing the not-so-fun, hard stuff that comes with building a great football program - building a team philosophy, recruiting the right players, making sure the kids are in a safe and strong environment, coached by the right coaches, etc. etc.

The funny thing is: Oregon always had to do that, even with the added edge of the Nike affiliation. They're just missing that edge now, or it's not as pronounced as it once was. Meaning the new coach, whoever it is, will have to work that much harder.

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